Vehicle seats and seat belts may be designed to protect an occupant during a vehicle impact such as a frontal impact or a rear impact. A rear vehicle impact presents occupant protection challenges especially should the vehicle seat incorporate a recliner feature. Some attempts to address these challenges include strengthening the recliner feature or strengthening the vehicle seat.
Modern seats may include a perimeter frame and a pelvic catcher that allows a seat occupant to pocket into the seatback, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,716. These seats may commonly be referred to as high retention seats having a pelvic catcher (e.g. pelvic strap), which is connected to a seatback frame to support the occupant's pelvis and lower torso in a rear impact. Such pelvic straps may be regarded as first generation pelvic straps. High retention seats may allow the seatback to yield rearward and may gradually accelerate an occupant in a rear impact. The pocketing of the occupant improves retention of the occupant on the seat. However, in severe rear impacts or crashes with heavy occupants, the seatback rotation rearward may allow the occupant to move up the seatback even with the lap-shoulder belt buckled.